The Bloods

THE BLOODS
The Bloods street gang began at the Centennial High School in Compton, California and were originally known as the Piru gang - Piru meaning Piru Street in Compton, California.
Theywere formed to protect members and bring neighborhood protection from the Crips. At first, Crips sets outnumbered Pirus sets by three to one. To assert their power despite this difference in numbers, ThePirus sets became increasingly violent, especially against rival Crips members, so other gangs with the same motive, started using the names Piru and Bloods to signify their alignment with the maingang. As a result, the Piru gang allied with the Denver Lanes, the LA Brims and the Lueeders Park Hustlers to become the Bloods in 1972. "Bloods" was a term that African-American fighting men calledeach other in the Vietnam War. The Pirus later changed their name to Bloods. But even that, The Pirus are therefore considered to be the original founders of the Bloods.

The East Coast Bloods beganin 1993 in New York City. Leonard "Deadeye" MacKenzie, then 26-year-old inmate from Brooklyn living inside a Rikers Island cell, and fellow prisoner O.G. "Original Gangsta" Mack, founded the New Yorkchapter of the United Blood Nation in 1993. Deadeye is now in his late 30s and is incarcerated in upstate New York.
By the late 1990s, New York Latin Kings leader Antonio Fernandez (AKA King Tone)aknowledged that the Bloods have begun to dominate New York's prison system, and that his own gang has abandoned criminal operations in favour of political-activism. Because of this abatement in LatinKing crime, the Bloods have a stronger and larger population in jail.
They have a structured association of smaller street gangs, known as “sets,” which has adopted a common gang culture. Each set hasits own leader and generally operates independently from the others.
Most Bloods members are African American males, although some sets have recruited female members as well as members from other...